Johannes Vorsterman (Bommel ?1643-1699 ?) View of Windsor Castle and the Thames from the North-East with figures loading boats in the foreground; and View of Windsor Castle from the South-West with figures on horseback and a gentleman with a hawk in the foreground oil on canvas 21¼ x 32¾ in. (54 x 83.2 cm.) a pair (2)
Johannes Vorsterman, who had studied under Hermann Saftleven in Utrecht, came to England in the reign of King Charles II (c.1672), where his talent for topographical views was soon recognised.
This pair of views would appear to date from c.1678-80. An almost identical pair, which Vorstermann is presumed to have painted for King Charles II, is in the Royal collection (O. Millar, The Tudor, Stuart, and Early Georgian Pictures in the Collection of her Majesty the Queen, London, 1963, I, nos. 418 and 419, II, the former illustrated pl. 138).
The view from the North shows the new Star Building and the other new range of buildings, behind and to the east of it, which King Charles II had entrusted to the architect Hugh May in 1673. The rebuilding and redecoration of this side of the castle seems to have been finished circa 1676-7, which helps to date the pictures. However, the topography of the present views is not strictly accurate. This is particularly true of the way in which the Thames flows and in the position of the bridge in the North view.
A copy of the view from the South, by Jan Griffier, with slight variations in the foreground, signed and dated 1681, is also in the Royal Collection (O. Millar, op.cit., no. 420; illustrated in E. Waterhouse, Dictionary of British 18th Century Painters, Woodbridge, 1981, p. 151). Later derivations of the compositions are recorded at Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire, and a later copy of the view from the South, with some variations, at Audley End.

Johannes Vorsterman (1643-1699)
View of Gloucester, from the north-west
oil on canvas
30 x 45½ in. (76 x 115.5 cm.)
Pre-Lot Text
THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
Provenance
with Spink, London, 1928.
Literature
J. Harris, The Artist and the Country House; A history ofcountry house and garden view painting in Britain 1540-1870,London, 1979, p.45.
Lot Notes
The present picture is the earlier of two known views ofGloucester by Vorsterman, the other is in the Gloucester CityMuseum. Relatively little is known of the artist who was born atZalt-Bommel in 1643 and was a pupil of Herman Saftleven at Utrecht.He seems to have worked in England from circa 1675 until 1686, whenhe left England for Constantinople. He specialised in paintingEnglish cities, castles and country houses. Other examples of hisworks include a pair of views of Windsor Castle in the RoyalCollection (O. Millar, Tudor, Stuart and Early Georgian Pictures inthe Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, London, 1963, pp.417-8,nos.417 and 418) and he also painted a celebrated view of Althorp(private Collection; J. Harris, op.cit., p.67, no. 64).
This view would appear to have been taken from a vantage pointbetween Over and Maisemore, not far back from the River Severn.Gloucester Cathedral dominates the city in the centre of thecomposition. In front and slightly to the left of the Cathedral canbe seen the church of St. Mary de Lode, with a small spire, whichwas blown down in a storm in the early eighteenth century, probablythe great storm of 1703. Just visible behind the Cathedral, to theright, is the thin spire of the church of St. John the Baptist onNorthgate Street. To the right of this can be seen the church ofSt. Nicholas on Westgate Street, with its full spire, the top ofwhich was removed in 1783. Third on the right from the Cathedral isthe Holy Trinity tower, in the middle of Westgate Street, with thebody of the church, which was taken down in 1699, visible beneath(the tower survived until the mid-eighteenth century when it wastaken down under the Improvement Act of 1750). To the right of thisis the tower of the church of St. Michael at the Cross. The fifthtower to the right of the Cathedral belongs to the church of St.Mary de Crypt on Southgate Street. The church of St. Mary de Grace,which was in the middle of Westgate Street between St. Nicholas andHoly Trinity, was taken down in the 1650s and is not visible in thepicture.
The landscape surrounding the town is also shown with carefultopographical detail. The Lower parting of the River Severn can beseen to the far right of the picture; the western arm of the rivercurves down towards the front of the picture, while the eastern armcurves away past the buildings of Llanthony Abbey, set apart fromthe city to the right of the picture and up towards the City Quay(which is not quite visible behind the trees to the right of theWest Gate). The river then curves back and under the WestgateBridge at the West Gate on the edge of the city, and is not seen inthe rest of the picture although its line is marked roughly by therow of trees along the edge of the city.
The road in the foreground of the picture is the Over Causeway,which crosses the island formed by the parting of the two branchesof the Severn, known as Alney Island, at Over Bridge. The boatsshown on the river are the distinctive Severn trows, and the fourmen near the edge of Alney Island in the centre of the pictureappear to be hauling the loaded trow in the river to the left ofthem. Also apparent in the foreground are the Alney brickworks,which had been established in the 1640s.
The hill to the right of the picture is Robinswood Hill, with theCotswold escarpment behind it. The hill to the left is Chosen Hill,and the large house on its lower slopes is Zoons Court.
We are very grateful to Nicholas Kingsley of the Gloucester RecordOffice, for his help with this catalogue entry.